📚

AP Government and Politics Exam Review

May 4, 2025

AP GoPo Exam Cheat Sheet Notes

Review Strategy

  • Create an organized REVIEW NOTEBOOK for the OPEN BOOK exam.
  • Ensure sections are clear and categorized:
    • Required Documents
    • Required SCOTUS Cases
    • Constitutional Foundations
    • Interaction with Government Branches
    • Civil Liberties & Civil Rights

Key Supreme Court Cases

McCulloch v Maryland (1819)

  • Key Principle: Supremacy Clause
  • Summary:
    • Confirmed Congress's right to use implied powers.
    • Validated national government supremacy over states.
    • States cannot tax or interfere with federal government activities.
  • Holding: US Constitution and federal laws supreme over state laws.

United States v Lopez (1995)

  • Key Principle: Commerce Clause
  • Summary:
    • Gun Free School Zones Act exceeded Congress's authority.
    • Congress cannot regulate gun possession in school zones under Commerce Clause.
  • Holding: Commerce Clause cannot be used to criminalize gun possession in school zones.

Baker v Carr (1962)

  • Key Principle: 14th Amendment - Equal Protection Clause
  • Summary:
    • Addressed justiciable questions in redistricting.
    • Enabled federal court intervention in redistricting.
    • State legislative districts must be as equal as possible.
  • Holding: Established "one man, one vote." Courts can review redistricting.

Shaw v Reno (1993)

  • Key Principle: 14th Amendment - Equal Protection Clause
  • Summary:
    • Gerrymandering based on race requires strict scrutiny.
    • Race cannot be predominant in redistricting.
  • Holding: Legislative redistricting must consider race consciously without being the sole factor.

Marbury v Madison (1803)

  • Key Principle: Article III - Judicial Review
  • Summary:
    • Established judicial review.
    • Empowered Supreme Court to declare Congressional acts unconstitutional.
  • Holding: Supreme Court can nullify unconstitutional legislative or executive acts.

Engle v Vitale (1962)

  • Key Principle: 1st Amendment - Establishment Clause
  • Summary:
    • Struck down state-sponsored prayer in schools.
  • Holding: Schools cannot sponsor religious activities.

Wisconsin v Yoder (1972)

  • Key Principle: 1st Amendment - Free Exercise Clause
  • Summary:
    • Amish community's right to pull children from school for religious reasons.
  • Holding: Amish are not required to attend school past 8th grade.

Tinker v Des Moines (1969)

  • Key Principle: 1st Amendment - Freedom of Speech (Symbolic Speech)
  • Summary:
    • Protected symbolic speech (e.g., wearing armbands).
  • Holding: Students can wear armbands to protest if non-disruptive.

Schenck v United States (1919)

  • Key Principle: 1st Amendment - Free Speech
  • Summary:
    • Anti-draft pamphlets not protected under free speech as they posed a clear and present danger.
  • Holding: Speech causing clear and present danger is not protected.

New York Times v U.S. (1971)

  • Key Principle: 1st Amendment - Freedom of Press
  • Summary:
    • Limited government's ability to impose prior restraint.
    • Allowed publication of classified Pentagon Papers.
  • Holding: Strong presumption against prior restraint even for national security.

McDonald v Chicago (2010)

  • Key Principle: 14th Amendment - Due Process Clause, 2nd Amendment
  • Summary:
    • 2nd Amendment right to bear arms applies to states via Due Process Clause.
  • Holding: Right to bear arms for self-defense is applicable to the states.

Gideon v Wainwright (1963)

  • Key Principle: 6th Amendment - Right to Counsel
  • Summary:
    • Right to counsel applies to major state crimes via the 14th Amendment.
  • Holding: Guarantee of an attorney for indigent defendants.

Roe v Wade (1973)

  • Key Principle: 14th Amendment Due Process Clause, 9th Amendment - Right of Privacy
  • Summary:
    • Right to privacy covers the decision to obtain an abortion.
  • Holding: Protects woman's right to abortion.

Brown v Board of Education (1954)

  • Key Principle: 14th Amendment - Equal Protection Clause
  • Summary:
    • Segregated schools violate Equal Protection Clause.
    • Overturned "separate but equal" doctrine.
  • Holding: Racial segregation in schools is illegal.

Citizens United v F.E.C. (2010)

  • Key Principle: 1st Amendment - Free Speech
  • Summary:
    • Struck down limits on independent political expenditures.
    • Overturned parts of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act.
  • Holding: Political spending by corporations and unions is a form of protected free speech.